The Hybrid
by Skyress1
Summary: Being re-vamped...
1. Doll Has Gone

**The Hybrid**

 **Chapter 1**

The maniacal penguin that everyone inside Central Park Zoo had always known as Rico, was now lying in his bunk, staring upwards into the dull grey concrete. His usual, perky and explosive self, filled with notions of exploding things was no longer there and the look in his eyes seemed a lot more sordid. The emptiness ate at him and quite clearly, he was a wreck.

All he had now was that god-awful memory from earlier.

 **[Flashback]**

 _It had begun as a relatively normal and satisfying day. Perhaps too good, with the blue skies, snowcones to go around and the permission to explode a stand or two, which he'd received from Skipper, much to his joy and surprise. However, nothing lasts forever._

 _As he entered the headquarters, frantically searching for his doll-friend, Miss Perky to tell her all about his latest escapade, he already had a strange, queasy feeling. Something in the back of his head was telling him that the day had so far been a little... too good. The lemurs weren't bouncing around, their music booming. The rats were out of the zoo. Everything was much too quiet, much too perfect._

 _And then the discovery hit him. Miss Perky was gone._

 **[End of Flashback]**

High time to do something about it, he finally decided, getting up to his feet. He searched again, digging through the contents of the main room, destroying half of Kowalski's lab and turn the majority of the penguins' headquarters upside down, in search of his plastic beauty. Yet, at the end of the day, there seemed to be still no sign of his little lady.

What he _did_ come across was a letter. And as it were, he wasn't utterly illiterate. As amateur as his skills were, he was not willing to go to the chimps. They were much too talkative and loud and neither of them would be able to understand his dilemma. With that in mind, he opened the letter with care, both relieved and worried to know that the letter was indeed addressed to his team. He read on, eyes scanning the page as his beak dropped just a little at the contents inside of the envelope that he'd found just seconds beforehand.

 _Dearest penguin enemies,_

 _You may think this is Blowhole, writing to you. However, I can most definitely assure you that I am nothing like that pathetic mammal and most certainly do not cooperate with him. In fact, this letter is aimed primarily at Rico and if you are reading it then yes, I have stolen your precious doll face._

 _You may not know me - in fact, I am willing to bet that you have no idea about who I could possibly be - but I know you. As such, I would heavily advise you not to take your comrades with you when you are searching for me, for if they find out who I am and where I come from, know that I will ensure that you wave your dolly goodbye!_

 _And as I am willing to be nice to you, I'll give you a little clue. You'll find me in the deepest parts of the Amazon rainforest, in Brazil._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _unknown._

Rico glanced at the letter with a grimace.

Skipper, who had been unbeknownst to him standing behind the taller penguin for a while now, reading over his shoulder, looked at his soldier with a stern look. As Rico turned around he could read the anger and paranoia from his leader's eyes. "Don't even think about it, soldier" Skipper ordered, as Rico flinched. The other penguin lowered his head.

"Kowalski, letter analysis!" Skipper then added as he handed the letter to the lieutenant who was standing beside him. How had they managed to creep up on him so silently? Rico shook his head, before looking to Kowalski.

The overly analytic penguin took the letter, sniffing at it, with an "hmm" forming on his beak. Looking at it closely, he began with his analysis. That soon turned to licking, then to sampling any fingerprints or leftover DNA and then obsessively looking at it under a microscope. Rico decided to sit all that out, watching nervously, from a distance. There was something rather disturbing about the precision and the ways behind Kowalski's supposed genius. Something about the way that Kowalski had studied that letter made him glad that he wasn't an object too. And by the end of it, he wasn't the only one giving Kowalski a weird look.

"What have you found, Kowalski?" Skipper inquired, watching Kowalski with a disturbed look on his face. Kowalski however, remained unfazed.

"According to the material, the letter itself was written on certified rainforest paper. Or at least, it was made from wood coming from a rainforest. This fiend appears to be smarter than I had originally thought though, there seem to be absolutely no finger or paw prints, or DNA. Clean as sanitising gel." Kowalski informed the team, disappointing Skipper and Rico further. He then glanced at Rico, with something akin to sympathy. "I have to agree with Skipper. Judging by how little information we have on this animal - whoever it may be - this creature is dangerous and it is far too risky to go alone. Perilous, even for someone of your skill-set, Rico."

There was the temptation to hit something, the urge to scream. Never did he feel so useless! Instead, he looked away, walking away from his teammates.

Rico was now, five minutes later, pacing around the HQ, thoughts churning inside his head. He was indeed thinking, with his flippers behind his back, focused on nothing but his arguing mind.

' _Should I disobey and look for Ms Perky, or should I obey and lose my dolly forever?'_ he wondered, sighing. They had to understand...

Private, who had been watching the television, when Rico had begun pacing around the seats, gave him a worried look. Nevertheless, once the programme he had been watching had finished, the cute penguin wandered off, not wanting to upset his companion even more by denying Rico the freedom to rescue his doll. After all, he wouldn't have been able to live without his lunacorn toy either.

If Private had stuck around for longer he would have heard the weapons expert say 'yup!' to himself. But with the little penguin gone and the other two out on Recon, no one would know of Rico's plans.


	2. Journey to the Amazon

**A Maniac's Wish**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Journey to the Amazon**

It was roughly midnight when Rico sneaked out into the dark, with Kowalski's map, with utterly no sense of direction, whatsoever. What he had with him was a supply of food, a chainsaw, explosives and a map, not that he was very good at map-reading. The heartbroken penguin then set off into the lights of New York and to travel on through the seas and oceans, hoping that he'll find his doll. He let his team mates alone, not realising that they couldn't just leave him to wonder right into what could be a trap.

For the first few minutes, Rico just tried to evade the x-officer X, remembering how hard it could be to escape him at times. And he certainly didn't want to listen to his tedious phrases! He would certainly be pleased with himself if he could be past this city without hearing a single word uttered by X. He turned right as he saw a police car, not wanting to be seen. As he did so he was sure he was watched by someone, but soon ignored the feeling and slid on emerging near the coast. He leaped into the water feeling a refreshing coolness, feeling home, feeling closer to Antarctica. He shook that feeling of too, deciding that he should get his dolly.

It had been about five hours now and he was nearing the tropical waters, which almost felt more like a jacuzzi than sea water. He gasped at the beauty of the fishes ant their sheer size. He almost thought of catching one, when his conscience told him to ignore the fish, they only would cause a distraction. The flower like polyps of the softer corals weren't anything for Rico, he considered them to mushy, but the spike black ones that he only caught a glimpse of, as they were at the bottom of the very sea, they looked awesome to him. He thought he saw a reef shark, seeing its scary ghostly eyes and his serrated teeth and slim athletic posture, so he picked up the pace. Not that it looked scary to him, but even Rico knew and respected the fact that sharks are to be evaded most of the time. Rico saw a small coral island and there, for a couple of minutes, he decided to rest, feeling the tiredness and the pain in his flippers.

He had no idea that Skipper already realized that Skipper had just found out about his disobedience to his commands. However, at the time it wasn't something he thought about.

 _Meanwhile at the HQ..._

Skipper awoke to a lovely morning, stretching his flippers above his head, yawning after a lovely musicless sleep. For once even Ring-tail had been too tired to dance. As he was finishing his stretches he caught a glimpse of Rico's empty bunk. Wait... what? Empty?! Skipper dropped his flippers and ran to Rico's bunk. He picked up the letter Rico had read yesterday and, although he had read it already, he read the letter once again. Once he finished, Skipper stared in disturbance, his beak open wide as he realised what that mad, mad penguin had done.

"Wake up men!" Shouted Skipper so loud they fell on the floor, head first. "Ouchie!" Private cried. "Skippah, why did you shout?"

"Rico left." Skipper tried to sound casual, but it only made him sound more anxious. The two other penguins stared at him, with the same expression he had a minute ago. "Why... why would he? Rico never contravened you, this is absurd!" Kowalski asked.

"Well, apparently his doll is more valued than us, but never mind, men commence operation: Retrieve Rico!" Skipper commanded and the three penguins went off, disappearing from the zoo, New York and human view.

Skipper felt as though he would not have much time before something disastrous would happen to Rico.

 _Back with Rico..._

As the sun was right in the middle of the sky Rico looked at the sea birds, some of them mocking his flightless situation, some befriending him, for his coolness and for himself. ' _Damn, I forgot about the time!'_ Rico thought to himself. "Sayonaha," Rico grunted as he waved to his newest friend an action-loving skua, he met a couple of minutes ago. He slipped of into the sea again, nearing to South America by the minute.

He swam past a colony of South American sea lions and a few hakes, south american fish, feeling excitement and hope. Realising that he would be a the Brazilian coast by sun down, he started humming the tune, Dynamite. His favourite, though mainly because of the word 'dynamite'.

He landed on the coast of Brazil taking a bus to the closest city next to the Amazon. And all through that journey he slept, dreaming.

 _Rico's Dream_

 _Rico looked around. He felt as if something was watching him. An icy cold went down his back as he crept through the rainforest. Suddenly a twig tracked. He gulped and slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around. A pair of ice blue eyes glared at him in that 'if looks could kill' way at him and the shine of the creatures claws was so bright, it could almost lit up the whole rainforest. Rico was about to scream when the creature suddenly disappeared. And the it appeared again. It's claws were in the air as it leaped onto him and... then everything went black..._

 _End of dream..._

Rico was awoken by a human scream. "Aaaghh... there's a bird here! A filthy, stray penguin!" A man complained, both awakening and offending Rico. He jumped off the bus, gracefully falling on to his feet. He then waddled off into the jungle, which swallowed him and his footprints.

He was so confused. He waddled for what seemed like hours, but he couldn't see anything or anyone. The leaf rustled and every noise made him jump, making him realise why this wasn't a penguin-friendly biome. He tried to cut off the branches, stems and leaves with his beak and flippers, but he gave up after realising that there was always going to be more plants anyway. He mostly feared of bumping into piranhas. Even he was afraid of the thought of being ripped up into pieces, in seconds. After all... who would not?

Suddenly he heard a twig crack. He gulped and slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around. A pair of gleaming blue eyes glared at him in that 'if looks could kill' way and the shine of the creatures claws was so bright, it could almost lit up the whole rainforest. Rico was about to scream when tha creature suddenly disappeared. Rico suddenly realised that this happened before ... in his nightmare. He shuddered. The creature appeared again, making Rico freeze in terror as the creature leaped on him, it's claws in the air... and then everything went black... all he could hear was an ominous laugh...a feminine laugh... and then silence...

 **...To be continued...**


	3. A Hybrid

**A Maniac's Wish**

 **Chapter 3**

 **A hybrid**

 **Skipper , Kowalski and Private**

The three penguins swam through the wonderfully warm waters amazed by the colourfulness of the corals that took over those seas. Private passed some exotic purplish-pink fishes that were swimming around a fan coral, making him awe at the place. Skipper smiled but then turned back to the task of finding Rico. "Skipper, you do realise that he might already be in the Amazon," Kowalski said, making Skipper angrier. "S...sorry," Kowalski apologized, he hadn't want to anger his leader, he was just trying to be honest, not being negative, thought he sometimes had been.

They were swimming through a shoal of scared silvery-gold fish, as they noticed a reef shark. Private quickly hid behind Kowalski who didn't seem to back off, but only because he was too scared to move. "Oh... hello odd penguins," the shark greeted them softly, which surprised them. Kowalski managed to 'unfreeze' and waved.

Skipper gave him a glare, but then just said, "Tell us your name, age and rank!" The shark was taken aback, but the he smiled politely and spoke.

"You are the oddest penguin I had seen today, but fine," the shark replied, sounding casual, " I am Harley, aged fifteen, rank: hunter of fish and mothers' son. Are you happy?!"

"Hello Harley, nice to meet you, I am sure Skipper is pleased with your reply sir," Private greeted back, smiling sheepishly. Harley smiled, mainly because he never saw such a polite penguin. "Um... sir, have you, by any chance, seen our friend Rico, a penguin with a mohawk?" Harley nodded.

"Five hours ago, he headed south-west wards," he added. The three penguins smiled. Well this shark was surprisingly friendly!

"Thank you, have a good hunt Harley," Private said waving the shark goodbye. The team (minus Rico) swam of southwards, in the direction of Brazil. Not knowing where exactly their friend was, or what creatures may live in the Amazon. However, none of them were bother about it.

 **Back With Rico**

Rico opened his eyes. The terrible pain seared through his head and his flippers were bruised. As he looked at the bruises he realised that he was still alive. Why would someone pin him down at night and bruise him, but to kill him. No creature used that strategy, except Dr. Blowhole, but he always wanted to kill him later. Since the letter clearly stated that his captor was not Blowhole and Blowhole didn't have claws anyway, Rico was sure that it wouldn't be Blowhole. He looked at the bars of his cage, the bars were driving him insane. Just knowing that he was in a cage, made him mad.

"He-llo... Rico-o, I see you have woken up," a feminine voice greeted. Rico looked around, to see who's voice it was, but the darkness hid whoever the voice belonged to. "What a the?!" he grunted. He heard a laugh. "I have caught you, so you can pay the debt for your father, Lucas," replied the voice. Rico didn't know what the creature meant by that.

"I don know... whatcha are an' wha happen," Rico said. The creature sounded surprise.

"You mean your father never told you about me?!" the voice asked angrily. Rico shook his head. "He never told you about me, Lea Wildbreeze?" Lea asked, recieving the same answer. "Well... what could I expect? I mean, he didn't even respect my mothers wish!" Then the creature crawled over the ceiling and jumped down, landing just in front of Rico's cage.

Before he could see Lea, he saw her team mates. To his surprise, Blowhole was there too, under a spotlight, with a rather wicked smile. "Hello, pen-gu-in... pleased to see me?" Blowhole greeted him, almost teasingly. Rico madly shook his head, making the dolphin laugh.

The other team mate was a small blue bird. It swooped down almost as fast as a peregrine falcon and landed gracefully on it's long-ish legs. "Hello... Rico, I am Aravind," the blue birdy introduced itself in a more pleasant fashion. He was interrupted by his commander.

"I think he heard enough!" Lea said and the a spotlight was switched on revealing a slim, but rather long cheetah, with innocent-looking blue eyes.

However, it wasn't the fact that the enemy was sweet looking cheetah, that struck Rico. It was the fact that it didn't look as if it was a pure cheetah. "Whah?!" Rico cried out as he opened his mouth. ' _No, it can't be... it just isn't possible, Kowalski would say... oh shut up! You can see it with your own eyes... so Kowalski is wrong and then that smarty pants isn't always right! this is sure to mock him,'_ Rico thought.

At the cheetah's sides, neatly folded was a pair of wings, one on each side. They were golden, with jet black spots and her claws were retractable. "Huh?" Rico said, but before the cheetah could answer, three penguins landed in the HQ.

"What in the deuce?!" cried out the second shortest one in disbelief.

"This changes everything I have learned from science!" the tallest one said staring at the hybrid that stood in front of him.

"Skippah, doesn't this baddie look a bit to... pretty for a baddie?" the shortest one asked.

"Private, that doesn't change anything!" the tallest one said.

"But, Kowalski, don't you realise that anyone of us can be proven wrong, I mean Kowalski, you were proven wrong a few seconds ago!" complained Private. Lea glared at her team-members. "Who put in 5 hour sleeping gas, instead of one?" she asked. Blowhole sighed.

"Sorry, I forgot to carry the two," he answered sheepishly.

"Never mind, I shall explain this all to you and your friends," Lea said, calmly. The three penguins were put into the cage Rico was in. "So where should I start?" she asked herself. "Aah, here!"

"Okay to explain my rather ... contra-distinctive looks, the explanation is simple, I am a hybrid. Kowalski, do you care to clarify this word to your team, since _you're_ the science expert in your team," Lea started.

"Ummm... okay. Let's just say a hybrid is an animal that has been the product of a cross-breed in order to change it's form, behaviour or other traits. For instance mules are practically a mixture of a horse and a donkey. This is an example of about three different types of animals mixed in to form one animal. This was not done very often or by regular human breeders. This is a mix between a jaguar (or leopard) cheetah, peregrine falcon and penguin. I don't exactly know why penguin, except for their intelligence," Kowalski tried to explain. Lea nodded and private looked at him confused, but then just nodded.

"That is right, I was the product of this cross-breeding led by mad scientist!" Lea added, sounding furious. This slightly offended Kowalski as he hated when animals called scientists like himself 'mad'.

 **The Past (18 years ago)**

Anyway, my mother was a jatah (jaguar-cheetah) and my father was a perguin falcon (peregrine falcon-penguin). I was known as experiment 259 by the scientists and as Lea Rose Wildbreeze by my mother. My father never really cared about me, being to arrogant and dumb, to show up. I was always taunted for my strange shape, since as a baby and I wasn't much of a sight, but my mother loved me and knew how to stop all rumours and taunts.

There was one penguin, and this is where you Rico come in, though not exactly," Lea paused for a second," that was worse than anyone else. He was called Lucas. Oh... and he was your **father** , Rico. He taunted me and laughed at me and annoyed me, wrecking all the fun I could have. He also had hit me a couple of times, always saying that I don't belong to the zoo, because I am a 'freak of an animal'.

Unfortunately, for him, my mother always guarded me and tried to resolve this all. Nevertheless, he kept on going. One day he called me such a horrible name that my mother ran up to him and pinned him to the ground. She then let him go, but as she did that she realised her mistake. He ran off shouting " I will only stop if you catch me again!" So she did and I ran after her. She ran through the whole park, fast as lightning, but the penguin had a small, but fast car.

She was getting close as she realised there was water to cross. She kept on going, trying to swim. At that time the penguin was in the water as fast as a torpedo and then Lucas came out. But ma didn't. I searched for her and realised what had happened. She drowned in the water, being held down by a strong rope. I found her body in the water, whole but unmoving. Oh... what a shock.

I escaped as soon as I realised what had happened. Aravind found me barely alive in the see and realised my potential. He taught me how to use my wings, my claws and everything. He gave me jaguars as helpers and let me lead this team. Blowhole joined up after a bad ending, when he got brainwashed, but I helped him recover, with the help of Aravind, of course. Some years later, I found out that Lucas Theodore Black, had died a year ago and that you were one of his three sons, two of which were claimed to be dead. I swore I would kill you, but then, Rico, I decided I might give you the chance to show you that, I am not the same monster your father was,"

 **End of the past (present)**

Lea finished of with a hiss.

The penguins looked at her with mixed emotions. "Sowwy," apologised Rico.

"Like your commander already said at some point - actions speak louder than words!" Lea said, pushing away Rico's apology. Blowhole was pleased with her action, remembering what pain he had felt in his past. Aravind did and said nothing, just watched. Skipper however smiled and nodded.

"I will let you go, if you Rico promise me that in time you will return me my favour, when I need it most, but remember, if you say anything bad about me, I will not hesitate to kill you and your team!" She warned Rico. Then all went black again...

 **...To be continued...**


End file.
